In every week so far this year, media coverage of Obama has been more negative than positive

A new study by the Pew Research Center PUTS THE LIEto the right-wing theory that the news media give President Obama unduly favorable coverage:

Of all the presidential candidates studied in this report, only one figure did not have a single week in 2012 when positive coverage exceeded negative coverage—the incumbent, Democrat Barack Obama.

While a sitting president may have access to the “bully pulpit,” that does not mean he has control of the media narrative, particularly during the other party’s primary season.

In Obama’s case, his negative coverage was driven by several factors. One was the consistent criticism leveled at him by each of the Republican contenders during primary season. The other involved news coverage of issues—ranging from the tenuous economic recovery to the continuing challenges to his health care legislation—with which he was inextricably linked. An examination of the themes in Obama’s coverage also reveals that the coverage placed him firmly in campaign mode. His coverage that focused on the strategic frame exceeded that relating to policy issues by 3:1.

This isn’t really a “new” study – it’s just an update with more recent data of the same severely flawed study that Pat touted 6 months ago. The methodology is just as ridiculous now as it was then – giving equal weight to mainstream news sources as it does to thousands of other news outlets/blogs, as well as using a computer algorithm to analyze content.

By the way, Jaybo, do you think the coverage of Obama in the Wall Street Journal is mostly positive? That’s the biggest selling paper in the country, and it is decidedly anti-Obama.

How about Fox News Channel, which is by far the most-watched of the cable news outlets? You think they’re pro-Obama?

How about the top-rated talk radio shows (Limbaugh, Hannity, etc.)? You think they’re pro-Obama?

How do you explain away the right-wing bias of those media outlets? Do the people at News Busters have a study that includes the WSJ, FNC and talk radio in the mix? Let me know when they come up with one.

At some point the truth about the economy, the healthcare reform law and the performance of the Obama administration becomes so readily evident that even the traditionally liberal media “main stream media” types are required to report the facts.

This is ludicrous. Read the study – it counts as “negative coverage” whenever one of the Republican candidates says something bad about the president and then gets quoted in the media. Yeah, real right wing bias creeping in there. Pat, you are so paper thin as an anti-conservative shrill that it amazes me the paper continues to humor you. Do you have ANY thoughts during the day that don’t include spitting on conservatives?